Rachel's Musical Adventures: Performing Bach

June 9, 2007 at 4:13 AM

Hi, everyone!

A week and a half ago, at the Montreal Chamber Music Festival, I had the incredible opportunity to perform the complete Six Sonatas and Partitas by Bach in a single evening. I’ve only done this a couple times before and each has taken me on a profound musical journey. The deep connection I feel to Bach’s music (which dates back to my early childhood when I regularly played Bach in church) further enhanced the experience.

As those who have studied these pieces know, many decisions must be made when crafting an interpretation. I’ve found that I enjoy multiple approaches – little details like the bowing of the second to last measure of the G Minor Adagio, big decisions like whether or not to add slurs (and if so, which ones) to the Andante from Sonata No. 2, or aesthetic judgment calls such as whether to play “notes inegal” in the E Major Minuet. In these situations and in so many others, I often don’t have a single idea that I prefer. After spending hundreds of hours studying passages and sections to decide what I like and don’t like, I’ve found that I communicate these amazing works most effectively when I let the moment of performance define my approach. Experiencing these works within the context of each other also produces a different result than performing one or two on their own. No matter how deeply one explores the depths of these glorious masterpieces, there is always more to discover. I can’t wait to see what inspiration Bach sends my way in the years to come.

Because most of Bach’s movements with repeats have two parts of equal length, the Classical and Romantic period tradition of repeating only the first half feels unbalanced to me. Therefore, when I perform one of the Sonatas or Partitas, I prefer to either do none or all of the repeats. On this occasion, since I was performing the whole cycle, I decided to do all of the repeats to convey how the weight and structure of each work compared and contrasted. I was a little concerned that the audience would get tired before I was done with the three-hour marathon. It turned out to be exactly the opposite – they were with me through every note and their enthusiasm was truly inspiring.

As much as I loved sharing Bach’s music, the preparation was very time consuming, especially considering the chamber music I had to rehearse and perform over the preceding week. I’m looking forward to finally having time to visit with my colleagues over the next few days of Schubert.

performing Beethoven's "Spring" Sonata with pianist Orion Weiss